If you’ve worked as a freelance blogger for any length of time, then chances are good you’ve experienced the following scenario:

Client meets blogger.

Client falls in absolutely, positively, head-over-heels in love with blogger, and sends tons of work their way.

Client decides blogger is so awesome that they want them for other, “related” tasks. You know, a little social media management here, some slight image sourcing there, and – oh, heck, why not? – a few Facebook ads for that upcoming book launch.

Soon enough, blogger finds themselves losing autonomy, performing non-blogging tasks they don’t enjoy and getting paid way less for mere crumbs where before they had the whole pie. Even worse, blogger does this at the expense of getting new, better work. Goodness gracious, what happened?

The short answer: fear. Especially when new to the biz, freelance bloggers often suffer from the concern that they will never be able to find enough work. Like a vulture wheeling overhead, this anxiety seems ever-present, threatening serenity and nudging us toward poor choices. But consistent work isn’t the biggest problem we face as bloggers: It’s maintaining our autonomy and resisting the urge to compromise our standards out of fear.

So what can you do about it? Here are a few steps (and one non-step) to take if you want to avoid falling into this trap and helm your own ship for life.

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